Creating lifelong readers

If you are reading this col­umn, chances are you are more successful than the average person, more involved in your community and less likely to be in prison.

That is not because of anything I have written. It is because you have chosen to read.

A new study by the Na­tional Endowment for the Arts suggests that reading transforms lives. "Regular reading not only boosts the likelihood of an individual's academic and economic success -- facts that are not especially surprising -- but it also seems to awaken a person's social and civic sense," wrote Dana Gioia, chairman of the NEA.

While correlation is not the same as cause and ef­fect, it is clear from the new report, "To Read or Not To Read," that all kinds of posi­tive measures go along with voluntary reading. Those who cannot read, or choose not to read, do not fare so well.

After considering data from a number of studies, the NEA reports three conclusions: "Americans are spending less time reading. Reading comprehension skills are eroding. These declines have serious civic, so­cial, cultural and economic implications."

This new study uses some data from the group's 2004 report, "Reading at Risk," and adds information from a lot more sources.

In the midst of the bad news, though, there is an opportunity. While reading skills for older teenagers have been dropping for 15 years, the reading test scores for 9-year-olds are at an all-time high.

These young readers are also the only group where a majority still reads for fun. In 2004, the report said, 53 percent of 9-year-olds surveyed said they read almost every day for fun. That number has not changed signifi­cantly in 20 years. In con­trast, 22 percent of 17-year-olds said they read for fun almost every day, down from 31 percent in 1984.

Even among college grad­uates, literary reading has declined. Once the habit is lost, it is hard to regain.

We see, though, we are doing a better job of teach­ing young readers to read. In our own state, the Alabama Reading Initiative has shown good results. The NEA study reports young people are us­ing their reading skills to read for pleasure. If we can hold their interest, they will continue to read.

Parents can have a strong impact on those young read­ers by encouraging them, by talking with them about what they have read, and by setting a good example.

We need to do all we can to nurture the reading habit, because right now that habit is not sticking. The NEA re­port cites data showing 15- to 24-year-olds spend only seven to 10 minutes a day on voluntary reading. They spend two to two-and-a-half hours a day watching TV.

Reading is not a magic cure for all the ills in our so­ciety. However, so many good outcomes are associ­ated with the reading habit that the NEA concludes "reading frequently is a be­havior to be cultivated with the same zeal as academic achievement, financial or job performance, and global competitiveness."

The challenge is clear, but so is the opportunity. Our young people have the skills, and in their preteen years they have the interest, to be­come lifelong readers. We must do all we can to keep them reading.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Tom Scarritt is editor of The News. E-mail: tscarritt@bhamnews.com.